IN NEW BRITAIN, THE SOLOMON ISLANDS, LOYALTY ISLANDS, ETC. 



99 



Genus. Thelyphonus, Latr. 

 Thelyphonus leucurus, sp. n. 

 PI. X. Fig. 1— 1 a. 



$ . Trunk, legs and chelae a nearly uniform dark brown, with the posterior 

 border of the tergites redder ; lower side of trunk and of coxae of legs paler ; tail 

 whitish-yellow. 



Carapace granular behind, roughened with wrinkles in front ; the interocular area 

 marked with four low longitudinal crests, a pair on each side of the middle line and 

 one on each side above the ocular ridge. Upper side of abdomen granular, coarsely 

 coriaceous between the granules, the median stria on the tergites traceable to the 

 8th ; ventral surface coriaceous ; genital plate punctured, setose, with shallow median 

 groove and a pair of impressions. 



Lower surface of coxae of chelae punctured and setose, transversely wrinkled in 

 front towards the middle line ; apex of coxal process directed forwards, the inner 

 surface with normal and rounded shoulder; trochanter with two lower spines and six 

 upper spines, three on the inner edge and two on the anterior edge external to the 

 long angular spine ; femur with one inferior spine and a small superior spine ; upper 

 side of trochanter and of femur coarsely punctured, wrinkled and subgranular towards 

 the inner edge ; tibia and hand smooth, coarsely but sparsely punctured ; three spines 

 on the outer edge of the tibial process, the series continued by about three more 

 spines, inner edge of manus and of immovable digit with about nine spines. 



Tarsus of 1st leg, with its 2nd segment about twice as long as wide, as long 

 as the two succeeding segments, which like the 5th and 6th are wider than long ; 

 8th segment enlarged, wider than long, with a longish internal distal process, 9th 

 segment more than one-third the length of the entire tarsus, quite five times as 

 long as wide, its basal half on the inner side widely excavated, black, the extremities 

 of the excavation marked by a low tuberculiform elevation. 



Legs externally granular ; tibial and protarsal spur on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th legs. 



Ommatoids, small space between them equal to about four times their diameter. 



Tail thick. 



Differing from % in normal sexual characters ; but in addition the legs are 

 redder on their distal half, there is one moderately large bifid spine on the anterior 

 edge of the upper surface of the trochanter, the sixth spine present in the % being 

 absent on one side and represented on the other by a high tubercle ; tibia and hand 

 more closely punctured ; chelae otherwise as in the % ; 9th tarsal segment of 1st 

 leg scarcely as long as the sum of the Gth, 7th and 8th, the 2nd not so long as 

 the 3rd and 4th. 



Total length 27 mm., of carapace 9 mm. 



Loc. Solomon Islands: Narowal ($) and Rubiana, New Georgia (</), 

 The genus 'Thelyphonus ranges from India and Ceylon to the Fiji Islands. This 

 species is most nearly allied to T. asperatus Thorell (Ann. Mus. Genova (2), VI., p. 382, 

 1888) from Java and Amboina but may be at once recognised by the difference in the 



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